An Elon Musk biopic, a massive data breach in Maine, and why the IPO market has gone quiet again 😴

First and foremost, thank you, U.S. veterans; we bow to you.

Also, it is Friday, and that means (some Fridays?) that we have a StrictlyVC Download for you. This week, we talked with 01 Advisors, which was cofounded by former Twitter execs Dick Costolo and Adam Bain and more recently added Facebook's longtime chief revenue officer, David Fischer, to the mix. We enjoyed talking with the three, veering as we did from why they don't take board seats, to the Series B opportunity they're chasing, to whether they think the world needs the super app that Elon Musk is now trying to create. Hope you enjoy it, too.

Giant thanks to our partner in this week's episode: Sight Tech Global. In its third year, Sight Tech Global is a virtual conference dedicated to fostering discussion among technology pioneers on how rapid advances in AI and related technologies will fundamentally alter the landscape of assistive technology and accessibility. To learn more about this year's event, coming up December 6 and 7, check out sighttechglobal.com.

Hackers may have stolen the personal information of Maine's entire population.

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Character.AI, a two-year-old Menlo Park startup that creates AI-powered chatbots that can impersonate people or things, is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from Google, reports Reuters, which has more here. 

Roller, a 12-year-old, Sydney, Australia-based maker of cloud-based venue management software for attraction businesses, has raised $50 million in funding led by Insight Partners. More here.

Arch, a New York-based technology platform that automates the operations and reporting for private investments, has raised $20 million in Series A funding, led by Menlo Ventures. Existing investors Craft Ventures and Quiet Capital also participated in the funding round, as well as new investors, including Carta, Citi Ventures, GPS Investment Partners and Focus Financial Partners. Wealth Management has more here.

Ooodles, a two-year-old London startup that leases laptops, phones, and other office hardware to SMBs on a monthly basis, raised a $12 million round led by Smart Lenders Asset Management. TechCrunch has more here.

Davinci Micro Fulfillment, a two-year-old New York startup that helps brands optimize their sales channels and inventory, raised a $3 million seed round co-led by Las Olas Venture Capital, Venture 53 Fund and Accelerator, and Silicon Road Ventures. The company has raised a total of $10 million. More here.

DeepInfra, a one-year-old Palo Alto startup that launches and manages LLMs for their customers, raised an $8 million seed round. A.Capital and Felicis co-led the deal. VentureBeat has more here.

EduFi, a two-year-old startup based in Singapore and Lahore, Pakistan, that provides education loans to economically challenged Pakistani students, raised a $6.1 million pre-seed round led by Zayn VC, with additional participation from Palm Drive Capital, Deem Ventures, and Q Business. TechCrunch has more here.

Era, a San Francisco startup founded this year whose app uses AI to that offer wealth management guidance, raised a $3.1 million seed round led by Northzone, with Protagonist and Designer Fund also pitching in. Fintech Global has more here.

Heali, a five-year-old startup based in Santa Monica, Ca., whose app helps users tailor their diet to address specific chronic conditions, raised a $3 million seed round led by Astanor Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Performativ, a three-year-old Copenhagen startup that helps wealth management firms upgrade their legacy software, raised a $5.9 million seed round led by FinTech Collective, with iGlobe Partners, Upfin.vc, and EIFO also taking part. Tech.eu has more here.

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Craft Ventures, the six-year-old, San Francisco-based venture firm founded by longtime entrepreneur-investors David Sacks and Bill Lee, just closed on $1.32 billion in fresh capital across our two new funds: Craft Ventures IV, which garnered $712 million, in capital commitments, is the firm's fourth early-stage vehicle; it also raised $608 million for its second growth fund. Craft focuses on B2B software companies across stages. The outfit how has assets under management of $3.3 billion.

The IPO market has grown quiet again. 

An Elon Musk biopic is in development at A24 with Darren Aronofsky on board to direct; Walter Isaacson’s recently published biography of Musk will serve as the basis for the screenplay, says Variety. No word yet on who is playing Musk, but just know who'd love to star in the production.

Speaking of Elon Musk, the billionaire was a bit downbeat in a recent appearance on computer scientist Lex Fridman's podcast. "My mind is a storm," Musk told Friedman. "I don't think most people would want to be me. They may think they'd want to be me, but they don't know, they don't understand."

Auttomatic founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg talked about Tumblr's future in an Ask Me Anything session after a leaked memo yesterday revealed that Auttomatic would be absorbing most of the social network's staff.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial is over and he was found guilty on seven charges, for which he awaits sentencing. But he also has a second trial, currently scheduled for March 11, where he faces additional charges, including for foreign bribery.

Q&A with Humane AI President Imran Chaudhri.

Cruise CEO to staff: layoffs are coming.

Are we ready for ChatGPT's personalized chatbots? A nonprofit called The Center for AI Safety says these agents are one of its “catastrophic A.I. risks” this year, warning that “malicious actors could intentionally create rogue A.I.s with dangerous goals.”

Andreessen Horowitz is reshuffling parts of its investment organization to sharpen its focus on AI, according to Insider. An AI applications group is now being headed by general partner Alex Rampell, who previously focused primarily on fintech (a strategy that he still also leads, says the outlet); Martin Casado, a general partner who focuses on enterprise deals, is reportedly taking the lead on another group focused on AI infrastructure.

Glamorous Instagram influencer Emily Pellegrini is made with AI, and along with amassing over 80,000 followers on Instagram, Emily is one of several AI-generated characters that's minting money on Fanvue, a platform for subscriber-only content similar to Patreon or OnlyFans.

A supermarket mogul who invested in a buzzy meal delivery startup called Eat Sunny is suing the company and its influencer CEO, Tatiana Boncompagni, for fraud. Boncompagni is an “incompetent” CEO who “would do and say anything… to get what she wanted,” the lawsuit alleges.

This year's winners at the Oscars of watchmaking.

Police chase in Brazil.

Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers, starring comedian Seth Meyers and his younger brother, Josh. (So good.)

A $3 million villa in Costa Rica.

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